Saturday night marked the end of an era for the Illini hockey club as six seniors said their farewells to the home crowd.

Three of the seniors are captains, but the team looked up to each one, freshmen defenseman Ben Riewer said.

The winningest senior class in Illini hockey history left the ice arena this weekend with two wins over Minnesota 9-0 and 3-2.

“With the success that they have had overall, obviously they are very good,” Illini head coach Chad Cassel said. “Each class has its strengths and weaknesses and this class was very gifted offensively and they have contributed a lot to our success over the last four years.”

Senior forward Scott Kohler said the seniors’ success begins and ends with teamwork.

“We are all best friends and whenever one guy got down, everyone else was there to pick them back up and get them through it,” he said.

Friday night, however, the young blood stole the show. Freshman forward Alex Park led the team with three goals, while freshman goaltender Marcos Montoya stopped all 18 shots that came his way.

The seniors weren’t silent though. They fed the puck to the young guys all night and had a combined six assists as a class.

“It’s been a great class to work with,” Cassel said. “They’ve done everything I have ever asked them to do and they have worked hard both on and off the ice.”

He said the seniors will be greatly missed, but at the same time he is confident the younger players will step up and contribute.

Saturday, the Illini were without some of their best. Junior forward Mike Roesch, junior defenseman Andy Lubesnick, sophomore goaltender Mike DeGeorge and freshmen forward Drew Heredia were selected to play in the league All-Star Game in Addison, Ill. that evening and did not play in the game. Roesch also won the league scoring title and most valuable player honors for his 36 goals and 31 assists.

The game began with a tribute to the Illini’s most successful class, and afterwards, the class of 2005 again took center stage when Kohler put the Illini on the board first within three minutes.

The Illini scored all three of their goals in the first period and allowed Minnesota to creep back into the game in the final nine minutes. But the team held on and ended the final home stand of the season with a sweep.

Thursday, the Illini head north to Bensenville, Ill. to play for the national championship. The Illini are once again a No. 4 seed in the tournament, which dumped the round robin pool system of previous years in favor of a 16-team playoff bracket.

“There’s never been a team in the past that has lost a game and gone on to win the tournament,” Cassel said. “It’s always been a one-game tournament for us anyways.”

The Illini will have to win four straight to become national champions and face No. 13 Washington and Jefferson Thursday at 1:15 p.m.

But the finality of this weekend’s games for those six Illini hasn’t hit any of them yet, Kohler said. To him, it felt like just any other weekend.

“A couple months down the road, I’m sure I’ll be looking back and wanting to relive those moments,” Kohler said.